Stamford's Curtain Call lets in the 'Sunshine'

Christina Hennessy, Staff Writer

Published 7:45 pm, Tuesday, October 18, 2011

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Director Les Colodny works with his leading men, Daniel Fitzgerald and Fred Tisch as they rehearse for Neil Simon's 'The Sunshine Boys.' The play will be staged at Stamford's Curtain Call theater company, beginning Friday, Oct. 21. less

Director Les Colodny works with his leading men, Daniel Fitzgerald and Fred Tisch as they rehearse for Neil Simon's 'The Sunshine Boys.' The play will be staged at Stamford's Curtain Call theater company, ... more

Photo: Contributed Photo

Stamford's Curtain Call lets in the 'Sunshine'

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Lester Colodny may know Neil Simon's play "The Sunshine Boys," backward and forward, but the cast that will be staging this classic at Curtain Call's Dressing Room Theatre still succeeds in making this theater veteran howl with delight.

"Every night that I watch them rehearse, they have me hysterical," said Colodny, who has been directing what he calls a "phenomenal" cast for the past several weeks.

"This is the first show I've done that I didn't have to do that much, because they took to it so eagerly." said the former Westport resident, who just recently moved to Fairfield.

"All I did was move them around and give them things to do," he said, chuckling.

More Information

The Dressing Room Theatre is located at the Sterling Farms complex, 1349 Newfield Ave., Stamford. Friday, Oct. 21, to Sunday, Nov. 6 (performances run 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays). $28, adults; $2, seniors and $14, students and children. $18 on Oct. 27 and Nov. 3. Bring your own everything format (doors open an hour before the show). 203-461-6358, www.curtaincallinc.com.

"This is a beautiful play, and I think the audience will really like it -- especially in this venue," Colodny said.

Simon's "The Sunshine Boys," is Curtain Call's second production of its 21st season, but the first play that will be shown in the Dressing Room Theatre, the more informal, cabaret-style performance space that is the companion venue to the nonprofit community theater company's Kweskin Theatre.

The play, which debuted on Broadway on Dec. 18, 1972, pivots on the relationship between two veteran performers, Al Lewis and Willy Clark, a vaudevillian comedy team who long ago split.

Into the picture has come Lewis' nephew, a young theatrical agent, who wants to bring the men together for a joint TV appearance. However, the fact that neither has spoken to one another for more than a decade does not bode well for an eventual reunion.

Lou Ursone, Curtain Call's executive director, said there never was a question as to who would be directing the show.

"He should be one of the `Sunshine Boys,' " Ursone said of Colodny. "He was the first person I called. I thought, `there was no way I was going to ask anybody else.'

"It is one thing to research a period," Ursone added. "It's another thing to have lived it and worked in the industry."

Colodny, who is 86, not only has had a long career in theater, but was Simon's agent early in the playwright's career. Colodny has worked as a talent agent, writer, director and producer.

"This is really a thrill for me," Colodny said of his experience. "I have always wanted to do this show because it is so funny, yet so poignant."